Looking for custom painter for O gauge E7

Harry Heike

Try Christine Braden, cjbcustpaint@gmail.com  She has done a lot of custom painting for me.

FrankRazz

If you are trying to match the sea foam green like the Sunset E6 has - good luck.  Never have found any paint, formula, or painter that could match it even close.

GOOD LUCK

Keep us informed.

Christine has done probably 50 plus locomotives for me.  She tried multiple mixes and formulas based on research.  Nothing came close..  She said she had never seen a color that hard to match.

Regrouped in a different direction to finish..

Thank to all who answered.  I save heard much about Christine and all of it has been good.  Thank for posting her contact information.  I sent her an email but it sounds like from what NHVRYGray is saying about the color I would be trying to match, it might all be in vain.

At least I will know for sure.

Thanks again for the help,

Don

Sunset E6 with Seaboard Air Line Sea Foam green.

Seaboard Coast Line hybrid merger scheme.

Please note that lighting angle and type affect the looks of both of these colors tremendously.

Per Don's initial question assuming the E7 is painted the same as the E6 color wise.

I always intended to have the hybrid merger scheme.  This was the late 60's when the railroads actually still cared about their image.  Seaboard Coast Line did several hybrid schemes that matched the original paint.  There were at least 4, one for ACL black and yellow (purple was long gone) that became the final scheme, one for the SAL Sea Foam green passenger scheme (citrus too was long gone), SAL freight green and SAL switcher black and red.

Anyway I wanted the E8 to match the E6, which really wasn't correct as the light green faded to a white/off white.

So once it was determined that a match could not be had, I went with an off white (white with a drop or two of green) and a sooty exhaust black roof.

I was well pleased with the result as it actually represents a still clean but time faded unit as the merger scheme would have been.

The decals were based on now unobtainable Microscale Seaboard Coast Line as a pattern and scaled accordingly. 

There two ways to get exactly the color you need:

Take the correct sample to a paint store that uses a scanner. They can mix any color according to the computer-generated formula that results from the scan.

Or use the old-fashioned method of taking the sample to the big box store paint department, where you will find ~1000 paint chips. I'm sure one will be correct.

@Arthur P. Bloom posted:

There two ways to get exactly the color you need:

Take the correct sample to a paint store that uses a scanner. They can mix any color according to the computer-generated formula that results from the scan.

Or use the old-fashioned method of taking the sample to the big box store paint department, where you will find ~1000 paint chips. I'm sure one will be correct.

But you need a SPRAY to apply the paint to look professional and NOT hide all the details. I dont remember any big box stores doing custom SPRAY CANS.

Then there is another option. Find a shade very close and paint them both to match.
You might try looking through the selections from MCW for your paint color.

Just ask an owner to match the shade with a Pantone color system, then match it yourself with your own Pantone card.